Electrically heated fabric wall covering assembly

ABSTRACT

A wall covering assembly includes a heating fabric comprising electrically conductive heating means which may be multiple elements, and wall-mounted, non-conductive spaced apart hookingon elements for receiving and retaining the fabric edges. The hooking-on elements each further include a rib portion having therein a conductive insert which is electrically connected to one side of a supply main. A conductive keeper strip cooperates with each rib portion to secure the edge of the fabric to its respective hooking-on element, and opposite ends of the conductive heating means are retained in the rib portions in electrically conductive relationship with the inserts by means of the keeper strips, whereby an electrical circuit may be maintained between the mains and the heating means. The hookingon elements may each include an additional rib portion extending further from the wall than the first mentioned rib portion. An ornamental fabric may be secured in overlying relationship to the heating fabric by having its edges secured to said additional rib portions by additional keeper strips. One of the hooking-on elements may be made integral with a hollow skirting board housing electrical wiring coupled to an electrical supply.

United States Patent [191 Tombu [451 Feb. 11, 1975 ELECTRICALLY HEATED FABRIC WALL 'CQY MKINGAAE SLMIL X [76 Inventor: Gerard Tombu, Rue des Bouchers 8, 02 St. Quentin,

ELQQQQM [22] Filed: Mar. 5, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 338,277

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 10,1972 Belgium 78046 [52] US. Cl 219/213, 52/222, 52/273,

[51] Int. Cl. H05b 3/34, E04b 2/00 [58] Field of Search F24d/l3/00; 219/213, 342, 219/345, 528, 529, 536, 548, 549, 541; 338/210-214, 208, 315; 52/222, 273, 506, 511

References Cited OIIIIHEIIIAI. FABRIC Primary Examiner-A. Bartis Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Bacon & Thomas ABSTRACT A wall covering assembly includes a heating fabric comprising electrically conductive heating means which may be multiple elements, and wall-mounted, non-conductive spaced apart hooking-on elements for receiving and retaining the fabric edges. The hookingon elements each further include a rib portion having therein a conductive insert which is electrically connected to one side of a supply main. A conductive keeper strip cooperates with each rib portion to secure the edge of the fabric to its respective hookingon element, and opposite ends of the conductive heating means are retained in the rib portions in electrically conductive relationship with the inserts by means of the keeper strips, whereby an electrical circuit may be maintained between the mains and the heating means. The hooking-on elements may each include an additional rib portion extending further from the wall than the first mentioned rib portion. An ornamental fabric maybe secured in overlying relationship to the heating fabric by having its edges secured to said additional rib portions by additional keeper strips. One of .the hooking-on elements may be made integral with a hollow skirting board housing electrical wiring coupled to an electrical supply.

'6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures ELECTRICAL HEAllllG FABRIC PATENTED FEB! I I975 SHEET 2 0F 2 ELECTRICAL HEATING FABRIC ELECTRICAL HEATING memo lll/ fill/I l I! I I! I [7&5 E 16 ELECTRICALLY HEATED FABRIC WALL COVERING ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The construction of heating wall coverings has already been suggested. For this purpose it has been advised to make use-f a base fabric including a network of electric conductors. Sucha fabric is fixed to the wall by gluing, stapling or such like, and said electrical conductors are connected to the electric mains.

While this principle is in itself relatively old, it seems that this manner of heating, which by the way is extremely comfortable and economical, has not been widely applied due to installation difficulties experienced in new buildings as well as in existing constructrons.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a heating wall covering that is economical to install and is extremely convenient to assemble. According to the invention, the wall covering assembly comprises a conductive heating fabric, at least a first and second hooking-on element that may be attached to a wall and to which the fabric is secured, each hooking-on element including a hollow rib which includes a conductive insert element which is connected to the electrical mains. Suitably formed keeper strips which are conductive secure the edges of the conductive fabric to the hooking-on elements whereby the fabric is not only secured to the wall but an electrical connection is established between the electrical mains, the strips and the fabric to at least one of the keeper strips and through the conductive'insert elements.

This wall covering assembly is of particularly simple construction essentially due to the fact that the keeper strips simultaneously constitute elements to secure the edges of the heating fabric in the hollow ribs of the hooking-on elements and constitute. electrical conductors to supply electric heating current to the conductive fabric,

The above mentioned and other characteristic features of the present invention will become clear from the following description of embodiments to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a wall covering assembly of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged scale section according to line lI-Il of FIG. 1, before the filling of the heating fabric;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views showing a construction detail pertaining to the electricalconnections;

FIG 5 shows a transverse section of a wall covering assembly according to the invention;

FIG. 6 represents a view of another wall covering assembly according to the invention;

FIG. 7 is aview taken along line VIIVII of FIG. 1, showing the heating fabric installed; and

FIG. 8 shows a transverse section of an alternative box type skirting board according to the invention.

.As schematically shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, the wall covering assembly'is constituted by the combination of at least one box type hollow skirting board 1 having a lower hooking-on element 2, an upper hooking-on element 3 and at least one heating fabric 4. The heating fabric 4 is well known per se and is not described in detail herein. In this case, the box type skirting board 1' is provided with compartments 5-6-7 for the passage of electrical conductors, each of aforesaid compartments capable of carrying one or more electrical conductors of various cross-sections, which provides for a great flexibility in installation possibilities, considering that the prefabricated elements thus become practically independent of the available electrical supply.

Box type skirting board 1 is upwardly extended by a hooking-on element 2 for the lower edge of fabric 4. In the illustrated case, this hooking-on element is constructed in the form of a strip 8 which extends the rear face of aforesaid box type hollow skirting board 1. The strip 8 is provided with a pair of hollow ribs 9-10 having openings 11-12 therein on the front faces thereof, the ribs extending normal to each other. The hookingon element 2 and skirting board 1 have flat rear faces as shown for engaging a wall.

This part which combines the box type skirting board 1 and the hooking-on device 2 preferably will be made as one integral element, for instance by extrusion of a plastic material.

The hooking-on element 3 for the upper part of the fabric may be constructed in a similar manner to aforesaid lower hooking-on element 2. Upper hooking-on element 3 is made up of a flat rear part 13, the front face of which includes two ribs 14-15 of hollow, rectangular cross section. The rib openings, respectively 16-17, are of a generally cylindrical shape, the openings of aforesaid hollows being normally smaller than their diameter. The flat rear part 13 of upper element 3 is fixed to the wall as illustrated.

Aforesaid openings 11-17 are used respectively for attaching the lower and upper edges of heating fabric 4, the fixing being effected by means of a cable, wire or keeper strip, respectively 18-19, made of a-conducting material, such as copper, for instance. In this instance, keeper strips 18-19 are rod elements.

Ribs 10-14 shall for instance be used for attaching an ornamental .material 20. by means respectively of keeper strips 21-22, which may also be made of electrically conductive material.

In order to bring about the electrical connection with I the electrical mains, openings 11-12-16-17, or some amongst these, are provided with a conductive ins'ert,'

such as for instance a metal insert 23. The latter is then connected to the mains by any well known method such as in the present case by means of a wire 24 and of a connector 25 fixed to a conductor 26, connected to the mains. Infact, any well known type of connection' is suitable for this purpose.

It shall be noted that for this purpose it will be sufficompleted by all the required accessories such as .wall

plugs, switches, eventual warning lamps, heat regulators, etc..

The lower edge of the fabric 4 is fixed in the opening 11 of hollow rib 9 by means of keeper strip 18 (FIG. 7)

whilethe upper edge of the fabric 4 is fixed to the rib by means of keeper strip 19 which fits in the opening 17 of upper rib 15. Since the keeper strip 18 is an electrical, conductor, the strip 18 not only secures the edge of the fabric 4 in the rib 9 but also electrically connects the fabric to the mains via the insert 23 (P16. 7), through electrical conductor 24, connector 25 and conductor 26. As shown in FIG. 6, an ornamental fabric 20, which may in itself be another heating fabric, may be secured in the ribs 10, 14 by means of keeper strips 21 and 22.

As shown in the drawings, the fabric 4 is anetwork of conductive wires which establish electrical continuity between the inserts 23 and the keeper strips 18, 19. That is, the ends of the conductive wires making up fabric 4 that may overlap the inserts do not interrupt the electrical circuitry between the inserts and the keeper strips, since all of these elements are preferably conductive. Thus, the electrical circuitry for heating includes the power supply lines 26, leads 24, inserts 23, and keeper strips 18, 19. Of course, electrical current flow is between opposite sides of the electrical supply, and therefore, opposite sides of the fabric 4 are connected to opposite sides of the electrical supply through the inserts 23 and the keeper strips 18, 19, respectively, the keeper strips serving to supply current to those heating wires which may not be in direct contact with an insert, in the manner of a busbar.

FIG. 8 shows an alternative form of embodiment of the skirting board. Herein the skirting board itself consists of two parts, one of which comprising compartments 5-6-7, whilst the other consists of a cover 29 so as to facilitate the access to said compartments. In this form of embodiment the hooking-on elements are also of a different design, as shown in aforesaid FIG. 8. It is, of course, possible to conceive numerous other forms a hollow rib;

d. a conductive insert in each of said hollowribs,

each insert being connected to one side of an electrical supply main;

e. the opposite edges ofsaid fabric being inserted within the hollow ribs of said hooking-on elements, with at least a portion of said conductive heating means being in electrically conductive engagement with said inserts;

. conductive keeper strips inserted and retained in said hollow ribs for securing each opposite fabric edge toits respective hooking-on element, said keeper strips'being in electrically conductive engagement with the entire heating meanswithin said hollow ribs; v

g. whereby the said heating means is maintained in electrical conductive relationship with said supply 3. The'wall covering assembly recited in claim 2, further wherein each of said conductive inserts in said ribs has an interior contour conforming to the interior contour of its respective rib for receiving and retaining therein a portion of a keeper strip in the same manner as said keeper strip is received and retained within said rib.

of embodiments which remain within the scope of the present invention.

According to a further characteristic of this invention, the front face or cover of the skirting board may be entirely or partially transparent so as to reveal the light or lighting emitted by a resistance or by a light source housedwithin aforesaid skirting board.

As heating fabric, use can be made of any of the well known means such as metal networks, impregnation, thermal paint, etc..

What 1 claim is:

l. A heated fabric wall covering assembly comprisadditional hollow rib, and further including another ther whereinsaid flat rearpart of one of said hookingon-elements is integral with a flat rear part of a hollow i fabric having opposite edges secured to said additional hollow ribs; and a keeper strip retained in each additional rib for securing said opposite edges of said other fabric in said additional hollow rib, said additional ribs extending further fromsaid wall than said first-recited hollow ribs, whereby said other fabric overlies said heating fabric when both fabrics are installed on said hooking-on elements.

5. The wall covering assembly recited in claim 1,. wherein each of said hooking-on elements includes a flat rear part adapted to be fixed on saidwall and a 1 front part provided with said hollow rib.

6. The wall covering assembly recited in claim 5, furskirting board housing electrical wiring coupled to an electrical supply main. 

1. A heated fabric wall covering assembly comprising: a. a heating fabric having opposite edges and including conductive electric heating means having opposite ends extending to said opposite fabric edges; b. at least a pair of non-conductive hooking-on elements for mounting said fabric to a wall, said hooking-on elements being fixed to a wall in spaced-apart relationship; c. each of said hooking-on elements further including a hollow rib; d. a conductive insert in each of said hollow ribs, each insert being connected to one side of an electrical supply main; e. the opposite edges of said fabric being inserted within the hollow ribs of said hooking-on elements, with at least a portion of said conductive heating means being in electrically conductive engagement with said inserts; f. conductive keeper strips inserted and retained in said hollow ribs for securing each opposite fabric edge to its respective hooking-on element, said keEper strips being in electrically conductive engagement with the entire heating means within said hollow ribs; g. whereby the said heating means is maintained in electrical conductive relationship with said supply main.
 2. The wall covering assembly recited in claim 1, further wherein said heating means of said fabric comprises a network of conductive wires having opposite ends; said hooking-on elements, ribs and keeper strips being elongated to accomodate a width of said fabric along said opposite edges thereof; each of said hollow ribs being formed of resilient material, with each of said keeper strips being frictionally and resiliently retained within a respective rib and engaging one of said opposite edges of said fabric between the interior of said rib and the keeper strip.
 3. The wall covering assembly recited in claim 2, further wherein each of said conductive inserts in said ribs has an interior contour conforming to the interior contour of its respective rib for receiving and retaining therein a portion of a keeper strip in the same manner as said keeper strip is received and retained within said rib.
 4. A wall covering assembly as recited in claim 3, further wherein said hooking-on elements each include an additional hollow rib, and further including another fabric having opposite edges secured to said additional hollow ribs; and a keeper strip retained in each additional rib for securing said opposite edges of said other fabric in said additional hollow rib, said additional ribs extending further from said wall than said first-recited hollow ribs, whereby said other fabric overlies said heating fabric when both fabrics are installed on said hooking-on elements.
 5. The wall covering assembly recited in claim 1, wherein each of said hooking-on elements includes a flat rear part adapted to be fixed on said wall and a front part provided with said hollow rib.
 6. The wall covering assembly recited in claim 5, further wherein said flat rear part of one of said hooking-on elements is integral with a flat rear part of a hollow skirting board housing electrical wiring coupled to an electrical supply main. 